90 Bueeau of Farmers' Institutes. 



will pay every time to add some wheat bran and oats to the lamb's 

 rations. Rape may be sown as late as the 1st of August and cul- 

 tivated in among the corn rows. It is not .a good cow food, because 

 it will taint the milk. 



Question. — In feeding sheep, why not feed whole buckwheat? 



Dr. Smead. — Because the middlings contain nearly three times 

 as much protein as do whole buckwheat. When the flour is taken 

 out, all the starch and sugar go, leaving only the protein. In 

 buckwheat " hulls " there is only about one pound of protein in 

 100 pounds of the hulls. 



Question. — What is the best grain for fattening lambs ? 



A Farmer. — Clear oats and clover hay. 



Mr. Smith. — I heard Mr. Woodward say that a small ration of 

 silage, clover hay, wheat bran and linseed meal, is the best for 

 lambs. Later in the season some corn is added, especially if the 

 silage is a little deficient in the grain part. The main object is 

 to get the most and quickest growth of lamb for the money ex- 

 pended; but there must be some succulent food, such as silage 

 or roots, with the grain, else the lamb's stomach gets out of 

 order. 



Question. — What per cent, of bran would you mix with corn for 

 fattening lambs that are being fed on straw and bean fodder? 



A Farmer. — I have always used a good scoop shovelful of bran 

 to a bag of cornmeal. 



Question. — Why is it not better to give sheep exercise in winter? 



Mr. Woodward. — They get all the exercise they want in the 

 pen. JSTo one ever saw a mature sheep stirring about for exercise. 

 But I saw some up in this locality, skirmishing around the barn- 

 yards and on the bare meadows, in search of something to eat. It 

 was hunger, not exercise, that made them do it. Young lambs, 

 however, take exercise in play, but old sheep do not. 



Question. — How can I make a sheep own her lamb? 



Dr. Smead. — Sometimes the mother has not sufficient nourish- 

 ment for the lamb. I should take the ewe away from the other 

 sheep, put the lamb with her, and feed her so she can make plenty 

 of milk for it. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Question. — Do you advise farmers to organize into associa- 

 tions "for self-protection against sharpers? 



Dr. Smead. — If you have not a grange here, by all means organ- 

 ize one. There is no organization that I know so beneficial to the 



